Your children or grandchildren may very well be riding an electric bus to school soon, and probably sooner still if they live in California. We've just recently seen the funding of the National Strategies demo buses. Now another fully electric school bus has been approved in the Golden State. The California Highway Patrol has greenlighted the Adomani EV bus for use in the Gilroy Unified School District (GUSD).

It is one thing to say you are going to Frankenstein a Tesla Model S with a pair of Siamese-twinned Volkswagen Vanagons and quite another to actually start taking your newly-acquired, smashed-up electric sedan apart in an effort to bring it back to life. Otmar Ebenhoech is doing just that, and having no small successes along the way.

Do-it-yourselfers who made a habit of converting traditional vehicles into plug-in electrics may not have been driven entirely away by factory-made EVs. In fact, one of them will be fusing an old, stretched Volkswagen Vanagon with a new Tesla Model S powertrain, and making the world's coolest Kombi is not as impossible a task as it might sound.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Smith Electric Vehicles are working together to create an electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Chicago. Smith Electric Vehicles was drawn to the city by the mayor's voucher system designed to accelerate conversion from diesel to zero-emission electric vehicles, a large number of fleets that are interested in going electric and development incentives offered to Smith. Smith is saying it will create "hundreds of direct and indirect jobs" there.

Last year, a BMW i8 plug-in hybrid was featured in the Tom Cruise-starring Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. This year, another BMW electric-drive vehicle is looking to make a star performance, and without the editing or tricky camera angles.

The crew at Translogic took the time to stop by and see the the team at ALTe Powertrain Technologies. Founded by a group of former Tesla Motors executives, the company focuses on building plug-in hybrid conversions for fleet vehicles. From creations like a Ford F-150 with a 2.0-liter gasoline engine and two 60 kW electric motors to full-size delivery trucks, buses and vans, the company is focused on reducing fuel consumption on some of the largest and hardest-working machinery out there. ALTe sa

Last September's inaugural Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention (EVCCON) held by the EVTV guys was, by any measure, a resounding success that combined a higher-than-expected turnout (both of participants and cars) with a well-rounded itinerary of activities and discussions. Ironically, given that the organizers are in the business of making a weekly EV-focused web-tv program, the only thing missing in the aftermath was a video document of the event. No more.

Ohio-based Amp Electric Vehicles may not have the newest concept vehicles at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, but it did bring in a big politician: Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH, pictured), who touted the work that Amp is doing by converting two SUV models – the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Mercedes-Benz ML – to electric drive. Amp also announced the price for the electric Jeep, $57,400, and the first dealer who will sell the two electric SUVs, Dana Hackney of

For those of you who can't wait for a factory-built electric vehicle, and can't swing the cash for a Tesla Roadster, a seller on eBay is offering up a recently converted 2001 Chrysler Sebring. This is the previous-generation Sebring, before the design went from plain to hideous.

News from Zap's California headquarters has been quiet of late, with not much more than a few tidbits about a possible electric SUV and more orders for the Zaptruck reaching our screens. This week, though, we heard about a new possibility for Zap's electric vehicles (EVs) to hit the road: this time as service vehicles for the United States Postal Service (USPS). The USPS, through Congress, is giving a big push to get a lot of electric vehicles into the fleet.

Paul Pearson's legal fight with the City of Santa Monica (and, originally, the California DMV) has taken an unexpected turn. While the City has been going after Pearson for his work converting gas cars to electric drive. Pearson, president of the Santa Monica-based Gas To Electric (G2E), was the target of a sting operation and was cited for for allegedly remanufacturing cars without a state license and for not getting a business license from the City. The main legal trouble, though, was over dis